This month, we will take a closer look at the recent reforms to China’s National team and assess the progress made since the election of Yao Ming as president of the Chinese Basketball Association on February 23, 2017.

Clearly he is under pressure to deliver, but in many ways this vision is problematic. While having two distinct teams will pay off for long-run development, it is by no means the short-term solution he seems to be promising.

If Chinese basketball is going to triumph in 2019, it will need to take great strides from its no-win performance at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

On some fronts, positive steps are being taken to work towards the goal of World Cup success. For one, team China Red is currently working out and playing friendlies in Vegas in conjunction with the NBA Summer League.

According to the NBA’s Weibo and CGTN, an English language subsidiary of CCTV, the Red unit has played in friendlies in Vegas against the Pacers on 7/5 and more recently against the Rockets on 7/8. The media was closed out of both of these sessions so very little can be made of the contests, but the important thing is that China’s national team is playing against the best competition possible. Zhao Jiwei, a point guard for the Red team posted these pictures from the scrimmage on his Instagram page [@zhaojiwe]

Yao’s influence is clear here as he understands the rigors of the league better than anyone in China. [NOTE: The NBA’s original post acknowledging the scrimmage with the Rockets has been deleted, but it did little more than say there was a game: #NBA夏季联赛# 中国男篮红队今天将与休斯敦火箭队进行一场训练赛，比赛过程不对外开放，红队队员已经抵达球馆进行热身。更多精彩视频请戳：http://t.cn/Rp0lXW4http://t.cn/RdaxGkl. The link to the actual post no longer works]

Going forward even more young players on their way to being the next Zhou and Ding could be discovered via officially sanctioned partnerships with foreign groups beyond the three NBA Academies discussed last month.

In particular smaller organizations could aid in the talent assessment process and help guide promising players into CBA and national team networks. This would decrease the youth training burden on Yao’s system while introducing new international coaching influences and playing styles to Chinese basketball.

We hope you enjoyed this update and remind you to check out our Instagram [@ProSkillsChina] and Weibo [@ProSkillsBasketball_China] for more regular content.

Pro Skills Basketball is a proud member of the Jr. NBA flagship network and is excited to be working in China. We look forward to developing Chinese basketball youth culture in a positive manner for years to come!

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THE TIME IS YAO: AN ASSESSMENT OF CHINESE BASKETBALL REFORMS was last modified: August 22nd, 2018 by Brendan Winters

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